Media Moments Eric Trump Can Never Erase
Eric Trump is perhaps best known for being the third child and second son of businessman and former president Donald J. Trump. "Nepotism is kind of a factor of life," Eric once told Forbes while holding court in his cushy office in the Trump Tower. "We might be here because of nepotism, but we're not still here because of nepotism. You know, if we didn't do a good job, if we weren't competent, believe me, we wouldn't be in this spot."
Alas, he is widely known for some pretty noteworthy media moments, too. "I pour concrete. I operate properties. I don't focus on appraisals," he brazenly declared while on the stand during his famous father's civil trial in November 2023. As one can imagine, many pundits and comedians had a complete field day with that line. "He's a construction guy like the guy in The Village People is a construction guy. He owns a yellow hat," host Jimmy Kimmel joked on his late-night show, "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" about Eric's assertion. But make no mistake, that's not the first time poor Eric has inadvertently made others chuckle — and not necessarily with him. Here are all the famous media moments Eric can seemingly never erase.
Eric Trump had a few choice words for New York City
Has Eric Trump been listening to "New York, I Love You but You're Bringing Me Down" by LCD Soundsystem? Following his last day of testimony in his father's civil fraud trial, Eric Trump let it all hang out as he aired out his grievances surrounding the trial and the Big Apple itself. "The city is going to h***, guys. Guys, we deserve better than this. Let's get the murderers off the street. Let's take care of the crime. Let's rebuild our infrastructure," he pleaded to a gaggle of reporters. "Everywhere you drive in New York, you hit a pothole, and your car gets destroyed, and they're going after a guy who employs thousands of people in the state." And, scene! Then, on February 16, he doubled down and told Fox News' "The Five" co-host and former judge Jeanine Pirro, "The best thing I ever did was get out of New York." He added, "New York is a hopeless place at this point. It's so sad."
Shortly after, many flocked to social media to rebuke Eric's long-winded anti-NYC rant. "Don't let the door hit your back side Eric. New York is better without your family," one Twitter user wrote.
Eric Trump said he was 'part of' the LGBT community
Eric Trump caused quite a bit of confusion in 2020 during an appearance on "Fox & Friends." While discussing a New York Times opinion piece about a lesbian who was secretly planning to vote for Donald J. Trump in the 2020 presidential election, the married man and father of two proceeded to gush about his own personal connection to the LGBT community. "The LGBT community, they are incredible, and you should see how they've come out in full force for my father every single day. I'm part of that community, and we love the man." Um, what?
It didn't take long before Eric realized that his remarks had perhaps been a little overzealous and misleading. In true Trump fashion, he quickly took to the New York Post to clarify. "To clarify, many of our close friends are part of the LGBT community, which was the intent of my statement — the left has taken that vote for granted for a long time, and support from the gay community for my father is incredible," Eric told the tabloid. "As to me personally, as I think you know, I am a happily married man to my wife, Lara," he added.
Eric Trump claimed his famous father 'built the skyline of New York City'
Do you even know who Eric's Trump father is?! In the aftermath of his father's civil trial lawsuit, when Eric wasn't publicly bashing New York City, he was crediting his famous father for the creation of the Empire City's entire skyline and bemoaning what he considered was a lack of ungratefulness for all that his father had done. "My father built the skyline of New York City, and this is the thanks he gets for doing absolutely nothing wrong," he seethed during a raucous appearance on Fox News.
As one can imagine, following Eric's sweeping assertion, fact-checkers immediately got to work to verify the validity of his claim. Spoiler alert: it appears Eric was a tad off. As reported by Curbed, Donald J. Trump doesn't actually own many of the buildings that bear his famous surname, including Trump World Tower, 200 East 69th Street (formerly known as Trump Palace), and even the Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point. Rather, they were simply a result of Trump's many licensing deals.
Eric Trump had some courtroom drama
Eric Trump ran into a little trouble on November 2, 2023, while testifying in his famous father's civil fraud trial. Initially, Eric was adamant that he "never had anything to do with the statements of financial condition." But after being presented with evidence that he had, in fact, corresponded with the Trump Organization's Vice President, Jeff McConney, about the statement of financial condition, it appeared Eric had a change of heart. When pressed again as to whether or not he had any knowledge of his father's annual financial statement as of August 20, 2013, Eric replied with a reluctant, "It appears that way, yes." Ruh roh.
Unfortunately, a misstep like this could cost him big time. "If he is not careful, he may walk himself right into a perjury charge because if you lie under oath in a criminal trial or in a civil case, you could open yourself up to a perjury charge," former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner noted during an interview on "The Saturday Show with Jonathan Capehart."
Eric Trump loves to talk about Hunter Biden
Is Eric Trump obsessed with Hunter Biden? To take a page out of Eric's own book à la his own testimony in his father's civil fraud trial, "It appears that way, yes." Over the years, Eric has seemingly found a way to bring President Biden's son, Hunter, into the forefront of his interviews. In July 2021, during a boisterous interview with Newsmax, when asked whether or not he was concerned he and his siblings would also be indicted following the Trump Organization's indictment, Eric answered with a definitive, "I'm not." He then promptly turned the spotlight on Hunter. "We've always lived amazingly clean lives, and believe me, if they could have, they already would have, right? I mean, that's what they wanted that was their end goal," he said. "You know the difference is I'm not Hunter Biden," he unabashedly declared before going off on a wild tangent of all the things he believed Hunter was guilty of.
But that's not all. Earlier that year, in March 2021, Eric also made headlines while discussing the allegations that Hunter Biden had lied on a legal form in 2018 to obtain a firearm. "Obviously, Hunter is a troubled kid, right? There's no question about that. But if that was Don or I, or if that was anybody in the Trump family, and we lied on a federal form, we'd be in jail for the rest of our lives. We really would be," he told Fox host Maria Bartiromo.